Cold Steel Kudu Lock Folder Knife
January 27, 2010 | Posted by admin 
- The blade is 4-1/4″. Overall dimensions 10″, 2MM thick. Weights 2.4 oz.
- For safety, the Kudu¿ has been thoroughly. The locking mechanism will hold the blade rigidly open until you decide to close it by pulling up on the ring attached to the back spring.
- The handle is made of 43% glass reinforced Zytel®. This material has proven to be extremely strong, and is stiff enough to compliment the blade and spring when locked open.
Product Description
In South Africa, an enexpensive ring lock folder is sold everywhere. It’s a good design, but it’s constructed from sub-standard materials, is poorly made and is overpriced. And yet, millions of these knives are sold each year. Cold Steel thought they could do better and did. The Cold Steel Kudu, takes some cues from its South African competition, however the Cold Steel version is vastly superior. Cold Steel has a Krupp 4116 Stainles steel flat ground blade, he… More >>
Cold Steel Kudu Lock Folder Knife
Categories: Cold Steel | 
Tags: Cold, Folder, Knife, Kudu, Lock, Steel | 
5 Comments »
Certainly more of a toolbox or camping knife than a pocket knife. Most interesting locking mechanism (the reason I bought it, frankly), and holds an edge well.
I probably should have paid more attention to the measurements in the description.
Rating: 4 / 5
ive had an okapi, which is the original design that this knife is based on for years. this one , although less charming, is better made with srtonger parts and a much better bade. good knife.
Rating: 4 / 5
I grossly underestimated the size of this knife. It’s a huge knife that I don’t think will fit in anyone’s pocket, so it’s not something you will carry around with you.
With the size surprise out of the way, it’s a really great knife with a good sharpness right out of the box. I had fun cutting and stabbing the box it came in and really it stabs and cuts nicely and love the feel of it. the curve of the blade is located at the 1/4th of the very top end, so the cuts tends to be shallower than you would expect. But it doesn’t take any effort to cut at all.
The ring lock is interesting, but not too crazy. Just hurts your finger after opening and closing the knife 20 times, but was just having fun because it was the first day. Nothing that would effect you on a normal day.
Had a problem with the fact that youtube reviews shows the knife being in a plastic wrapper when you take it out of the box, but there was no plastic wrapper when I took out mine. Feels like somebody already went through the knife which is a bit iffy, and was going to drop a star from the rating. but it was more of amazon’s fault than the actual knife’s fault so I’m just going to rant and let the knife have the four stars it deserves. (four not five, just because of the size. it’s impractical size)
Rating: 4 / 5
I was debating over whether to give Cold Steel’s Kudu four stars or five stars. On an absolute scale, it’s a three or four star knife, but when you factor in the price it’s a whole different story.
BLADE: Krupp 4116 stainless steel…what does that mean, I really don’t know, I’m not an expert on grades of steel. As folders go I’d say it’s slightly on the large side – the blade is 4 & 1/4″ long.It is, however, only 2mm thick, so it will flex. I don’t torture test my knives, I just do what I need to do with them, but it seems like this steel is pretty tough – it can bend a considerable amount before breaking. The blade is reasonably sharp out of the box – enough to pass the paper slicing test, but not shaving sharp. As hardness goes I’d say it’s in the middle range: it holds an edge well, but you won’t break your back trying to sharpen it. You can definitely put a razor edge on this blade without too much trouble, but personally I like to keep a more practical utility edge on it. The rust resistance on this steel is excellent – mine’s been regularly exposed to water, sweat, etc. and there’s not a spot on it. Overall, not the highest quality steel but functional and more than adequate with good stain resistance.
LOCK: In a word, unconventional…at least as far as american folding knives go. Apparently in south africa this is a common, popular design. The opening mechanism is ratcheted, having 7 notches counting the open and closed positions. This seemed like a strange feature to me at first but it’s actually quite advantageous in terms of how the lock functions. The stainless steel spring sits fully exposed on the back of the knife, and locks into an indentation on the lower spine of the blade. The top end of the spring has a ring attached to it. Once the knife is open, you pull on the ring to bend the spring back and pull it out of the groove on the back of the blade. Disengaging the lock requires a solid grip on the handle, and your fingers will be in the way of the closing blade. This is why the ratcheted positions are useful – you can disengage the lock, move the blade foreward one notch, then move your fingers out of harm’s way and finish closing the blade. When opened, the lock is rock solid. There is no play in any direction, and it’s not going anywhere until you decide to pull on that ring. This lock seems like an awkward designed when compared to fast action liner locks that can be easily popped open and closed with one hand, but it is very sturdy and cheap to make, allowing for a strong locking folder for a very low price.
HANDLE: The Kudu’s handle is zytel, a handle material used on many knives, such as the CRKT M16-10KZ, one of my favorite folders. I love zytel handles, they’re nearly impervious to the elements and can take a real beating. The Kudu’s handle has a sort of wood grain texture to it (which provides a good grip when wet), and a stainless steel inlay in the rough shape of the knife’s namesake – a type of antelope. My only gripe with the kudu’s handle is that it’s a bit skinny considering the size of the knife. To be fair, I have big hands, but to me it just seems to be lacking in width.
CLIP: When I review folding knives I always include section on the clip, but this knife doesn’t have one. It makes sense – this isn’t a quick-draw knife with a stud or flipper, so there’s no need to have it clipped somewhere for fast access. When I carry mine it fits nicely in the change pocket on the front of my pants, or I hook the ring onto the carabiner clip on my belt that holds my keys. It would be nice if the knife had a clip, but I wouldn’t fault it for lacking one because it’s just not that type of knife.
On an absolute folding knife scale not accounting for price, the kudu is maybe a three star knife. However when you do take price into consideration it’s a definite five. As a compromise I give it a four. It’s an unusual but well designed knife and an incredible value.
Rating: 4 / 5
I got this knife more for fun than out of intentions to use it seriously. Still, I think this could find use on many occasions for lighter-duty tasks (don’t split wood, and it’s not a pry bar, but otherwise…). The closure lock is an interesting design, I don’t know what it’s advantages are, but I don’t see any disadvantages to it accept you need two hands to close it (unless you come up with some really special method…). There really isn’t anything tactical about this knife; it’s also two-handed open (no thumb stud) and doesn’t have a pocket clip.
The knife is fairly large/long, more so than I was lead to believe by the pictures. This is probably a plus for usefulness, unless you particularly want a smaller knife.
For the price, it’d be hard to beat for a light-duty folder.
Rating: 5 / 5